Final Report - Webinar A Wretched Anniversary: The Implications of One Year of U.S. Boat Strikes (August 19, 2026)

Introduction

On August 19, 2026, the webinar "A Wretched Anniversary: The Implications of One Year of U.S. Boat Strikes" was held, organized by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Forum on the Arms Trade.

Panelists

• Adam Isacson, Director for Defense Oversight, Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
• María Teresa Ronderos, Director, El Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP - Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism) .
• Sarah Harrison, Nonresident Fellow, Stimson Center.
• Annie Shiel, US Director, Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) (moderator) 

Video of the event is available at https://youtu.be/WIOtbqBgZ8c
Audio traducido al español. (A version of the video with Spanish interpretation is available at:) https://youtu.be/kTq12zvslg0 

English video

video en español

Recommendations and Resources

During or following the event, panelists offered the following recommendation and suggested resources. (Note: The Forum provides a platform for sharing of views but does not itself take positions.) 

Adam Isacson

• Halt all boat strikes immediately, rescind all orders enabling the boat strikes.
• Reassert Congressional war powers by passing a resolution, within the framework of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, explicitly prohibiting the boat strikes and Operation Southern Spear.
• Conduct a full investigation into the boat strikes, determine which statutes may have been violated, and, where warranted, launch prosecutions.
• Remove profit-seeking criminal groups from the State and Defense Departments’ lists of terrorist organizations. Terrorist groups, motivated by ideology or other non-economic goals, are fundamentally different adversaries with far greater antagonism to U.S.-aligned governments. Address organized crime by devoting U.S. resources to supporting prosecutions, investigations, witness protection, judicial reform, prison reform, police reform, transparency measures, and community-level violence prevention initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Place the highest priority on working with regional governments and civil society to break corrupt links between organized crime and government officials at all levels, thereby depriving organized crime of its strongest source of protection and support.

Additional suggested resource:

• Adam Isacson and John Walsh, “Killing Spree: Extrajudicial executions in the U.S. boat strikes campaign,” Washington Office on Latin America, July 24, 2026. 

María Teresa Ronderos

• Media should keep trying to put names and stories to these persons, with more detail and giving a human face.
• Public officers who are fearful now should collect information, so that this will not be forgotten and accountability is possible in the future.

Additional suggested resource:

• Maria Teresa Ronderos, Jose Luis Peñarredonda, Giannina Segnini, Ronna Risquez, Lorena Meléndez, César Molinares, Juan Pablo Barrientos, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Andrés García, Asha Javeed, “La humanidad detrás de los casi 200 bombardeados por Estados Unidos,” El Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP - Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism), May 12, 2026.  Available in English as “Humanity behind the nearly 200 bombed by the United States.”

Sarah Harrison

• Congress should speak plainly about the boat strikes. They can do this by: (1) refusing to concede Trump’s lie that this is a war (e.g., do not call the strikes “war crimes”) (2) calling these crimes what they are: murder and crimes against humanity, and (3) decline to debate about which branch gets to decide these killings and instead reiterate Congress has already spoken on this issue in Title 18 and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). 
• Congress should defund operations at sea and on land in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility (AOR) if they involve the lethal targeting of drug traffickers. 
• Foreign and international courts should quietly collect evidence against US officials for these crimes to prepare for future cases to hold the perpetrators accountable. 
• The General Assembly should request an International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on the international law questions involving the boat strikes. 

Additional suggested resources:

• Tracey Begley, Benjamin R. Farley and Sarah Harrison, “International Accountability for U.S. Crimes in the Caribbean and Pacific," Just Security, May 27, 2026.  
• Sarah Harrison and Mark Nevitt, "The Caribbean Strikes and the Collapse of Legal Oversight in U.S. Military Operations," Just Security, October 23, 2025.
• Benjamin Farley, “Why Trump’s Justifications for Drone Killings Fall Short,” Foreign Policy, November 18, 2025. ​